Did Google (Plus) forget the importance of search?

One big fail in Google+ (Web) that I have come across recently is that the search bar goes away as the user scrolls down. It’s frustrating to have to scroll all over the place, just to do a simple search.

Usually, the reason for hiding the top bar is be to provide more screen real-estate for the content, but the strange thing here is that there is a sticky bar, and the bar has more than enough space to accommodate the search bar. It’s just the bar which contains the search is not the one that sticks. The issue feels self-imposed, a limitation of the way the header is split. The behavior, introduced in the not-so-recent UI refresh just feels like a big UX miss, and I wonder what urged them to make it this way.

It’s a wonder how Google can make this mistake, considering all the other social network heavy-weights seem to have this right. Search is what made Google what it is, so this flaw feels all the more wrong. Misleading user feedback, or a simple miss, I wonder?